Lady Cajuns to Arizona

[lcitsh]

What a monumental mistake the NCAA Selection Committee made! Not just sending the Ragin Cajuns to the Arizona regional, BUT MAKING THEM THE NUMBER 4 SEED IN THAT REGION!!! I am licking my chops. Between the Selection Committee, Beth Mowins and ESPN, the ladies have enough motivation to pull off what many people will see as an upset when we take out the Wildcats on their home field and be the #1 seed in Oklahoma City. All bragadocio aside, I genuinely believe that we have a legitimate chance to win this region. Oklahoma is not as strong as they have been in recent years and we will play Arizona in the second round. No, I'm not overlooking South Carolina, but the Lotiefs will have them ready for each game. The ladies can do this. It will happen. I want to hear Mowins and the selection committee moan and groan when their beloved Arizona is not in the College World Series. BRING IT ON, LADIES! YOU CAN DO IT!

[Diapason]

I have never been so upset going into a regional. Not as a 4 SEED as a 5 SEED, and now we have to play a team with half the wins and four times the losses. I needed a place to vent, thanks for your time.

[Zeebart21]

Not that I disagree, but you cant lose to McNeese, and AM CC(at home).

plus we play in a weakass conference.

That being said, sure we got screwed.

Lets beat the ~~~~ out of em'

Z.

[lcitsh]

Yeah, correction, a 5 seed. They haven't a clue what they have just done to Arizona. But they'll find out Friday and Sunday.
Not to excuse the losses to CC, but those were the first full games after Brooke's shot to the head and they were still somewhat recovering from the shock of their ace getting hurt. Besides, CC ain't bad as LSU is about to find out.

[NewsCopy]

Cajun softball headed to region hosted by top-ranked Arizona

LOUISIANA La. — It didn’t take long on Sunday for Louisiana's Lady Cajuns to find out their assignment in the upcoming NCAA Softball Tournament, and the news didn’t produce unbridled euphoria.

Simply put, if the Cajuns are going to get back to the Women’s College World Series, they’ll likely have to beat the No. 1 team in the country to do so.

The 55-6, No. 9-ranked Cajuns watched the NCAA selection show on ESPN News with their fans, and quickly saw “UL Lafayette” pop up on the screen in the Tucson Region hosted by top-ranked Arizona.

UL will face SEC member South Carolina at 4 p.m., Lafayette time, in Thursday’s opening round.

As eye-opening as the location was, the Cajuns’ No. 5 seeding in that regional was a shock.

South Carolina, 27-22 with 16 losses in its last 26 games, is No. 4.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com

[NewsCopy]

Cajuns Awarded Sixth Straight NCAA Bid, 14th in Last 15 Years

LOUISIANA La. - For the sixth straight year Louisiana's softball team was awarded a berth into the NCAA Division I Women's Softball Championships as announced by the NCAA Softball Committee Sunday evening during the annual selection show aired live on ESPNews.

That was the good news for the nationally recognized program and Sun Belt Conference representative.

The most surprising news of all for a team that was ranked in the Top 10 for all but two weeks this season and recorded the third-most victories in Division I (55) along with the second-best win percentage (.902), was the seeding handed out by the Division I Softball Committee.

The ninth-ranked Ragin' Cajuns (55-6), four-time defending champions of the Sun Belt Conference and currently riding a 14-game winning streak, are a No. 5 seed and will venture out west to Tucson, Ariz., for a regional hosted by the University of Arizona, the No. 1 national seed.

The selection marks the Cajuns 14th regional appearance in the last 15 years and the fourth straight in as many years for head coach Stefni Lotief.

Louisiana will face No. 4 seed South Carolina (27-22) on Thursday, May 20 at 3 p.m. (CDT) in the opening round of the eight-team regional field at Hillenbrand Stadium on the UA campus.

LOUISIANA SI

[Oldman]

if you didn't notice am cc, beat baylor and they are in the tournment, so thats no excues for this committee, they blew this its a slap in the face, and we have always played in state schools that did not make a difference, it's just no respect.

[Turbine]

NCAA seeding is supposed to say what you should be after a season of play.

Unfortunately the season of play is only being used to gauge the top eight ranked teams.

[NewsCopy]

The top-25 softball poll reads a lot like the top-25 football poll. Familiar names like LSU, Florida State, Michigan, Georgia, Tennessee, Nebraska, Alabama, Oklahoma, Florida and Texas A&M and a smattering of interlopers like Louisiana-Lafayette, Long Beach State and Tulsa have joined every Pac-10 team except Arizona State in the rankings.

The rest of the story

[Diapason]

Isn't it funny that 50 years to the day after segregation was outlawed, a NCAA segregation committee rears its ugly head? I find it ironic, and I'm not trying to be overdramatic, just dramatically showing the changing face of segregation.

[UAFan]

As a College Softball fan and a big UA Softball fan, I must say that Louisiana-Lafayette is a team that really scares me. They have an excellent pitcher in Brooke Mitchell, and although they haven't played a particularly tough schedule, Team USA was only able to beat Mitchell by a score of 3-0.

One of your losses was to UA at the Kia Klassic (2-0). Mitchell took the loss, but gave up only 3 hits. Fortunately, for us, UA was able to bunch all of our hits in the same inning. Hollowell took the win, nearly pitching a perfect game. I am really looking forward to the Hollowell vs. Mitchell contest. It will be a great game to watch between two great pitchers, even if it is at 2:00 PM when it is 100 degrees in the shade!

The Ragin' Cajuns are ranked number 9 in both college polls. How this team is not a number two seed in some regional is completely beyond me. It is absolutely ludicrous that they should be a fifth seed! They are seeded below 24 teams that are either unranked or ranked below them in both polls! Granted the seedings are not done according to the polls, but this is an outrageous insult to both Louisiana-Lafayette and College Softball.

It is too bad that one of these two teams will not make it to the WCWS. In any other regional, Louisiana-Lafayette would definitely have a great chance of making it to the WCWS. Having said that, I don't wish to imply that you can't win this region (1). You will definitely present the greatest challenge UA has faced in a regional in a long time. I always feel that to be the best, you must beat the best. I think that Arizona will really look forward to playing a team as good as Louisiana-Lafayette in the regionals, and that we will be focused and determined to play our best. If we make it through this regional, we will definitely be ready for the competition in Oklahoma City. I wish you the best of luck, but hope UA will come out on top.

PS. A big Hello to all my friends and family back in New Orleans!

[snote]

greetings UAFan

new orleans to tuscon heh? two kinds of heat
i heard that before from those back east when i was out there for some time got tired of telling them "110 degrees is 110 degrees" (smiles)
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i like that- all i read and hear from the cajun girls and their coaches is the thinking 'there's no crying in softball' and they will take their opportunity and run with it as far as us fans we cry all the time (smiling)

the girls rpi/sos/etc works against them but all they can do is line up and play whomever is in front of them (they were a number 4 seed last year and made it to oklahoma city)

i wish them luck and will enjoy listening to the games

ps. i never can remember is it "s before c except after u" tuscon or tucson ? (grins)

[DieHard1280]

What gets me is the fact that the Cajuns were hopeful for a top-eight seed, (although I would have been shocked if they had gotten one)and they not only didn't get that, but they were shafted with a 5 seed (which translates into anywhere from the 33rd to 42nd spot in the tourney) and were sent to arguably the toughest region in the tournament. Something is not right about that to put it lightly. This stinks!

[RaginFan2]

"ps. i never can remember is it "s before c except after u" tuscon or tucson ? (grins)"

Yes, "s before c EXCEPT after u"! "Tucson" (grins)

[Cajun Express]

diehard, i think it translates to 40th as the number one seed is supposed to get the weakest seed of each group. 8 x 5 = 40th. you just gotta think arizona is wondering who they ticked off.